Bottling-machine



(No Model.)

B. ANDERSON. BOTTLING MACHINE.

, No. 262,911. Patented-Aug. 22, 1882..

W ITN 55555 n. PETERS, PholoLithu Wahingtom n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY B. ANDERSON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

BOTTLlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 262,911, dated August 22, 1882,

V I Application filed October 5, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY B. ANDERSON, of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottling-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is a bottling machine that can be used for bottling either still or aerated liquors, whether the bottles are closed with external or internal stoppers. Its object is also to provide for the use of dry instead of soaked or steamed corks, and to prevent injury to the corks while being driven into the necks of the bottles, the bottles which I prefer to use, when stoppering with cork stoppers, being provided at the mouth with an enlarged chamber terminating in an annular ledge on which the lower outer edge of the cork is seated, thus admitting of the use of corksof but half thelength of those in common use. These objects are accom plished by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which a Figure 1 is a side view of my machine, a portion being shown in central. vertical section. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view of the plunger and its attachments.

A represents the standard B, the cylindersupport, vertically adjustable in an opening through the standard A.

The cylinder is represented by C. It is held in the outer end of support B by anut, c. p

D is the plunger guide-bar, fitted to slide -through piece B and a stud, a, cast upon the upper end of standard A. The plunger-bar is actuated by a weighted lever, E, through a link, F, which is adjustable in lever-bar E, by means of bolt and holesin said bar, to obtain a longer or shorter stroke of the plunger G to adapt it to convenient use in charging either with outside or inside stoppers. The stroke of the plunger G is limited by set-screws d, which are changed into different holes of the guide-bar D, as desired.

Except the provisions for varying and limiting the stroke of the plunger G, the plunger itself and the cylinder in which it works, the machine does not materially difi'er from those in common use for bottling with outside stoppers.

The novelfeatures of my machine will now be described.

In machines now used for outside stoppers the bore of the cylinder is made about the size of the throat of the bottle used, and is much smaller than the corks to be used, while the plungeris of a uniform diameter throughout its length,bein g much less than the diameter ofthe cylinder to permit the ordinary wire cork-fasteners to pass over the cork, the loop in the locking-wire passing upon each side of the plunger while it holds the cork in the bottle. In these cases the corks must be soaked or steamed to admit of their being compressed sufficiently to pass into the bottle. This compression is effected in the cylinder,into which the cork is tightly forced from above to prevent the escape of the gases.

In steaming corks that have been previously used they become contaminated by the difierent liquids in the bottles they have been used to close, and absorb the water in which they are steamed. This foul liquid is forced out Of the cork as it is compressed in the cylinder and is discharged into the bottle being filled, thus injuring the liquid.

The corks, when used, are from the steaming very soft, and many of them are injured'or en tirely destroyed by the plunger in being forced through the cylinder.

By my invention these difficulties are overcome. I bore out my cylinder to the size about of the enlarged upper opening in the bottle neck, make the plunger, except the lower end, to snugly lit the cylinder, and in the upper end of the cylinder provide a stuffing-box packed with a hard textile packing, 6. By this means I am enabled, when bottling aerated liquors, to prevent the escape of gas through the cylinder, as the plunger tits snugly in the stuffing-box. The reduced end of the plunger is bored out and fitted with a rubber plug, I-I. WVithin the upper end of the cylinplunger reaches the stuffing-box to close the cylinder and prevent the escape of gas in bottling aerated liquids.

The bottle represented in the accompanying drawings (and claimed in another pending and make a more secure stopper.

, Corks are made with the seep-pores running transversely to the length of the cork. As only the bottom of the cork is in contact with '-the liquid in my improved bottle, none of the contents can reach the cylindrical portion of the cork to be absorbed by the pores. The corks may therefore be used over again with any kind of liquor, as they are notcontaminated by the contents of the bottle.

To bottle with outside stoppers the opera-- tion is the same as with the machines now used. The dry cork or marble is forced through the stuffing-box and cylinder and into the enlarged upper portion of the bottle, the rubber cushion compressing the cork upon its seat. In this case the cork is compressed endwise, instead of in the direction of its circumference, and is held compressed by the wire locking device. The rubber cushion prevents injury to the corks, and when the wire fastener is thrown olt' the cork" will not stick, as is often the case in the common modeof bottling, which necessitatesthe use of an instrument usually an ice-pickto remove the cork, by which so many bottles are chipped out at the The machine is changed to bott e W] side stoppers by removing the rubber plug H and inserting in the screw-threaded opening within the end of the plunger the wire hook J, Fig. 2. This wire is made of spring-steel. The lower hooked end is made to sustain a weight of about five pounds without straightening. The set-screw d in the guide-bar D is set below the upper stud the proper distance to perof the stopper without withdrawing the enlarged portion from the stuffing-box. As the plunger is brought down the spring end of the hook J trips past the end of the stopper-loop and hooks into it, at the same time pushing the stopper down, should it be drawn up into the neck of the bottle. v After the bottle is charged the lever is released or thrown up, drawing the stopper into the neck of the bottle, and as the upward stroke continues straightening the hook J and withdrawing it from the stopper-loop. The bottle is then removed and another put in place and the operation continued.

It will thus be seen that my machine saves corks when outside stoppers are used, and can bereadily changed to operate with stoppers closed from the. inside, and thus my cushioned plunger will save corks, even when steamed and compressed by it in the ordinary way.

I do not claim the improved bottle here, as I intend to make it the subject of a separate application.

What I claim is- 1; In a bottling-machine, the combination, as specified, of plunger Gr, cylinder 0, open from top to bottom for the passage of corks, and packing 0, arranged to operate as specified.

2. The combination, in a bottling-machine, of the plunger G, packed cylinder 0, and springwire I, substantiallyas specified.

3. The plunger of a bottling-machine, provided at its lower endwith a counterbore or ion (such as H) for stoppering with corks, or with a spring-wire hook (such as J) for stoppering with inside stoppers, substantially as before set forth.

4. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of the cork-seating plunger G and elastic cushion H with the cylinder of a bottling-machino.

HENRY l3. ANDERSON.

Witnesses Init the hook J to be released from the hook H. (3. HUNTEMANN, GEO. J. MURRAY.

socket adapted to be fitted either with acush- I 

